A male high school athlete is complaining about the lack of “sportsmanship” from his female competitors after he “won” an event in the girls’ championship.
16-year-old “Veronica” Garcia, 16, is a male student who runs on the girls’ track team at East Valley High School near Spokane, Washington State.
Garcia is able to compete as a “female” by claiming to be “transgender.”
On Saturday, Garcia was greeted with boos from the crowd when he finished first in the girls’ 400-meter run at the track and field championships in Tacoma.
The “victory” made him the first transgender high school athlete to place first in the state.
When he accepted his gold medal at the podium, his female competitors did not applaud or cheer, however.
Instead, they stood with their hands behind their backs.
Someone in the crowd reportedly shouted, “She’s not a girl!”
Garcia said he was “somewhat hurt” the girls did not congratulate him.
“I guess maybe I expected sportsmanship because I was cheering the rest of them on when they were called,” Garcia told The Spokesman-Review.
“So I guess I expected to get that reciprocated.
“But I didn’t get that.”
“I’m just a teenager,” he said.
“I wish people would remember that.”
Garcia’s first-place time for the 400-meter run was 55.75 seconds.
The time was a full second faster than the real girl who finished second.
WATCH:
Watch the girls on the podium cheer for the rightful state champ vs when the boy is announced
Stop saying girls are okay with this. They’re CLEARLY not, but the risks & threats they face for even daring to oppose this are real. My heart breaks for them.
🎥: @ReduxxMag https://t.co/2vx1UAFVcY pic.twitter.com/5wUfSRtN9d
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 25, 2024
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which governs high school sports in the state, allows students to compete on a team of the opposite sex if they claim to “identify” as “transgender.”
“The WIAA encourages participation for all students regardless of their gender identity or expression,” the WIAA handbook reads.
The WIAA also does not require high school athletes to take cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to play on a team of the opposite sex.
Under the rules, a male can simply claim to be “female,” despite the scientific impossibility, in order to compete in a girls’ event.
The boos at Saturday’s meet were “a bit more severe” than usual, Garcia told The Spokesman-Review.
Garcia began “identifying” and presenting as “female” last year after failing to compete competitively as a male.
Since then, he says he has received “discriminatory comments” about his “gender identity.”
“I’m just a teenager,” he said in his defense.
“It’s one thing if you want to advocate for whatever, but your message becomes deflated when you start insulting.
“As soon as you start harassing transgender people, then I think your message starts to fall apart.”
“At the very least, give us respect, because I think the best thing anyone can do is, even if you don’t understand why we’re transgender, the very least is to be nice to us,” Garcia said.
“Kindness goes a long way.”
Garcia admitted there are no “easy answers” to transgenders competing in sports.
